Cannabis Use, Mental Health, and Social Media: The Influence of COVID-19 & Social Isolation [Funder: Carleton University COVID-19 Rapid Research Response Grants]

This study will investigate how the current COVID-19 pandemic has influenced cannabis use, stress, and mental health among university students. Taking advantage of an ongoing research study examining these behaviours and outcomes prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will create a new "post-COVID-19" participant pool that will allow the comparison in our measures before and after COVID-19. Findings from this study will highlight how COVID-19 is affecting cannabis use, stress, and various mental health indicators, and will help inform Carleton University's strategy for creating and implementing mental health supports for students in the current COVID-19 climate. Results will also determine how social media platforms (e.g., Twitter) can serve as tools to predict vulnerability as reflected in posts within these platforms. In addition, we will outline the development and dissemination of targeted knowledge mobilization tools and resources to help maximize the impact of this research.